


A second life for Arthur Pendragon

by Laura_Sinele



Series: Fictober 2019 drabbles [14]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Bisexual Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Fix-It of Sorts, Friends to Lovers, I didn't put up with all that pining for that, Love Confessions, M/M, how it should have ended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 08:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21072023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laura_Sinele/pseuds/Laura_Sinele
Summary: Merlin can't stand losing Arthur, so he waits until Mordred is wounded and teleports himself with Arthur to a safe place before the king is wounded.





	A second life for Arthur Pendragon

**Author's Note:**

> Written (on a whim, I'm not even a hardcore Merlin/Arthur shipper) for Fictober19, prompt 16: "Listen. No, really, listen".

Merlin was following Arthur through the woods, discreetly casting a mild breeze that lifted the dead leaves on the ground, covering their tracks, as he used to do. This time, though, it came out sloppy, Merlin’s mind being concerned with Arthur’s silent fury. 

Arriving to a small spring, Arthur slowed his stroll a bit, undid his armour’s shoulder pads and drank some water, all the while not uttering a word. From a cautionary distance, instilling a protective spell in the bark of the tree he had his hand on, Merlin watched him wash his face and hand, and remove the rest of his armour plates and his chainmail vest. His movements were methodical, not particularly brusque nor slow. They were just infused with deep indignation. Finally, hands propped on his hips, Arthur turned to look at Merlin with white hot wrath in his eyes.

“What was that?”

His voice was low and paused but Merlin winced as if Arthur had just yelled with all the power of his lungs.

“I...uh… Your moronic servant has just saved your life again, your majesty?”, Merlin offered with a half smile and the knowledge that he was about to be shoved against the nearest solid surface. 

Arthur’s nostrils widened. He looked severely at Merlin and moved as if he was going to turn his back to him, but in the last second he charged against him and shoved him against the tree he was leaning in. Inwardly terrified, but always an optimistic, Merlin widened his smile.

“I knew you’d do that”

“Oh, did you? How did you know? Was it another of your magic tricks?”, spit Arthur.

Merlin’s face fell. He had wanted to tell Arthur so many times, but he’d never dare precisely because he dreaded this reaction.

“No”, he answered primmly, softly. “I just happen to know you pretty well”

Arthur’s face showed his inner debate, from rage, to fear, to disappointment and back to rage. He pushed Merlin against the tree trunk and let go of him, turning his back to him and walking away a few steps from him.

“What did you do?”, he asked, seemingly calmer, not turning to look at Merlin.

“I took you someplace safe. We are not far from Camelot”. 

“Why, Merlin? Why would you remove me from battle when all my men were fighting and falling for Camelot and their king”, Arthur demanded, screaming and gesturing like a madman.

Merlin took a deep breath and tried to talk, with not much success. Tears welled up in his eyes and it was only when they began to fall down his cheeks that he managed to answer. 

“Because he was about to kill you. And my destiny was to protect you until he did kill you. Because it was written that you’d be the greatest king and your death by Mordred would bring greater times. But, in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to let you go”.

Arthur looked at him with an indecipherable expression, and Merlin’s tears kept falling. He closed his eyes in an attempt to make them stop. The sound of the dead leaves told him Arthur was walking up to him and, not knowing his intentions, Merlin decided it was better to keep his head down and his eyes closed.

“You have been doing this for a while, then? Using magic to protect us?”

Merlin nodded. He felt Arthur’s hands take his face and make him look up.

“Open your eyes”, he asked softly. Merlin did. “Why? Isn’t destiny written and supposed to be unavoidable?”

“I suppose it can be changed or overwritten. You gave Mordred a death wound, this was written, but I vanished us here before he could hurt you”.

“And what does that mean? Am I still the king? Should I give up the throne or…? Wait!”

Merlin saw Arthur’s eyes light up, but couldn’t tell why. He felt the need to answer Arthur’s questions, though. 

“After you fell wounded I had to take you to Avalon, and you’d die on the way. And then Gwen would be queen and bring the greater times expected”

“And what if that’s what happens?”

“What? Are you asking me to let you die? Or to kill you?!”

“Listen, Merlin”, Merlin shook Arthur’s hands off his face, but Arthur held him again. “No, really, listen!”

Merlin took a deep long breath and nodded, wary about what he was going to hear. 

“What if we just don’t return to Camelot? What if we find ourselves a couple of horses and ride until we find somewhere where you can use magic for good and I can hunt and make a living for us? Everyone will think we died and the greater times sill be brought by Gwen all the same”.

Merlin laughed sadly, blinking the tears away, and held Arthur’s wrists.

“But won’t you miss her? Or your home? Wouldn’t it break your heart?”

“I sure will miss her, Merlin. But my heart’s been broken a million times, and only twice mended. Out of the two people I’ve ever loved, I’ve never been able to choose. I could never have one of them as long as I lived in Camelot, and I could never have the other while my father lived. All my life, everything I’ve done, I’ve done it for my King and my kingdom. But if fate wants to see Gwen as queen of Camelot and make her bring prosperity over its people, be it. Leaving her behind is my last one sacrifice, my last decision made for Camelot. And after this, I get to live my own life”

Merlin found himself nodding and smiling. He let go off Arthur’s wrists and Arthur let go off him. Merlin went to sit by the spring and lit a camp fire.

“Let’s camp here tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go find two horses. But I won’t go with you. You deserve the life you wanted. Tell me where can I find this other girl and I’ll bring her to you”.

Arthur looked at him dumbfounded, but before he could ask “Which girl?”, it all dawned on him. He went to sit next to Merlin with a smirk, talking suspiciously cheerfuly for someone who was in the middle of a death-threatening, hours-long battle.

“You are right, Merlin. I’ll tell you about the only person I’ve fallen in love with besides Guinevere. Oddly enough, you can’t say I have a type, because Gwen is long-haired, dark-skinned, with dark, loving eyes and eminently feminine, curvaceous and graceful; while the other is pale, with mischievous, clever eyes, thin, gangly and… definitely not a woman”

Merlin had been forcing himself to look interested in a manly, playful way, but all pretence of masculine camaraderie fell when he heard that last bit. He looked at Arthur with wide, disconcerted eyes, that only grew wider when Arthur started to laugh so hard he fell back on the grass. 

“Arthur! Arthur, are you alright? Have you lost your mind?”, Merlin asked as he lay next to Arthur trying to make him stop laughing before he lost his breath. Wheezing, the former king wiped off his face a mirthful tear and answered.

“No, Merlin, I haven’t. Never seen clearer, never been wiser than right now”.

Arthur leaned in and kissed Merlin softly on the lips, while his head played a thousand terrible scenarios in which he misunderstood all the signs along the years and Merlin had never returned his feelings. And then, Merlin’s hand caressed his nape, and Merlin’s lips parted, and suddenly Arthur was unable to articulate any thought or give any retort. 

And this is how it ended, and no one can convince that it went otherwise.


End file.
